And so it begins...

From MSNBC (http://msnbc.msn.com/id/9727001/)The Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee has released legislative language that will be voted on Wednesday to open the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge in Alaska to oil drilling....The legislative proposal, which is expected to be cleared by the energy panel and then folded into a much bigger budget bill to fund the federal government, calls for opening ANWR's 1.5 million-acre coastal plain....Under the proposal, the Interior Department would be required to hold two lease sales before Oct. 1, 2010, to lease tracts in ANWR to oil companies....If Congress approved drilling in the Arctic refuge this year, the first oil would not begin flowing until 2015, assuming the government was able to lease the first exploration tracts by 2007, according to the Energy Information Administration.

Update: A Senate committee voted Wednesday to include drilling in an Alaska wildlife refuge in a massive budget proposal, assuring that drilling opponents won't be able to use the filibuster to thwart oil development there.